I’ve been Indiegogo-ed! We’ve been organising a Breakfast Club for a few weeks now to coincide with the ENTIRE Indiegogo team coming over from the states to promote the site and the awesome fact you can now crowdfund in good old Great British pounds. I had the privilege of going to not only our Breakfast Club Event but the Indiegogo Launch Night too. Great stuff, great team! First up, information you really need to know about Crowdfunding in general.

Crowdfunding is not Begging

Nor is it just about getting the money for your project (if you think that is what it is all about then you are in for a surprise)

It’s about building your audience

PS Your audience is more than your mother, a few friends and all the other cash-poor creatives you know…so, build your film audience now. If you have a film about Dalmatians, go engage the Dalmatian loving community and provide them with valuable content about their niche before you start hitting them up for cash.

There are a few tips that the team let us in on that were specific to IndieGoGo 1) Indiegogo Pioneered Perks – Perks are something that you can offer a funder in return for their support. Remember it has to be something that is of value to the funder – that doesn’t mean it needs to cost you to produce it. It could be an hour consultancy with you or a piece of the set you’re not going to use again. Whatever it is make it of value. Signed DVDs or a poster from a cast no-one knows isn’t really going to cut the mustard. Be creative! 2) Flexible funding – IndieGoGo allows you to get the funding you do raise. So if, for example, you don’t reach your goal of £5000 but get to £4500 then you still get the money to take your project forward. Other sites, not to mention any names, do not. 3) Raise Money in Stages – Don’t be over ambitious. You can raise money for your project in stages – i.e. Development, production, post-production and marketing/distribution. 4) $25 Sweet Spot – Campaigns that have a $25 perk statistically do far better than those without. Make sure you have a banging $25 perk. 5) Get a team of crowdfunders – Again, campaigns with a bigger team do better. Get more engaged people on your team and you will raise more than you would by yourself. 6) Make sure you have links – More links on your page to quality content and websites get you more money. 7) Diversify your promotion methods – IE use your website, twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and all other means at your methods. 8) Update your campaign – The more updates you do, the more money you’ll get. You have to be engaged and let people know how fabulous your campaign is going. 9) Get lots of pretty pictures - It’s not rocket science, do a banging video and make lots of pictures about your production, storyboard, cast etc. These things make the project seem inevitable.

With all of this in mind, I'll be ramping up my audience build for a short film I plan to make early next year.